Now, I haven’t seen the Puss in Boots movie (which comes out on Friday) and I’m not even sure if I will or not — I really loved the first Shrek movie but, in my opinion, it really started going downhill after that. Even so, Puss in Boots was a fun character and his swashbuckling seems a perfect fit for this game.

There are two modes in the game: Desperado and Bandito. Desperado is much like the original “Classic” game: fruits and bombs fly up on to the screen, and you slash as many fruit as you can while avoiding the bombs. As with the original, you start with three lives, and lose one each time you miss a fruit and it falls off the bottom of the screen. Also, if you hit a bomb, the game is immediately over. The difference in this version is that, rather than regaining lost lives after every hundred points, there are Magic Beans which fly across the screen from time to time. Each bean is worth 25 points, and if you’re down any lives they will give you one back. (The Magic Beans are apparently related to the plot of the movie.) Continue Reading “Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots Is a Pop-Culture Mash-Up” »

Being a tech dad is a curse. We are always chasing the latest and greatest that tech minds are producing despite our economic status, how many kids we have or whether or not the CFO at home (the wife) will approve.

We want it. We need to have it. We don’t want to wait. We don’t care what it costs.

Some gadgets are are more valuable than others — to you personally and professionally. That’s why I think the iPad is a must-have for all parents. I firmly believe that it was secretly made with kids in mind. Not only is the iPad a great tool for business needs, it’s also the secret weapon of parenting.

Other than the obvious — games, education and creativity — there’s a slew of reasons why I think the iPad was created for kids — at least tech-tech loving adults with kids.

Reason #1: Your Kids Are Going to Get on Your Nerves

Every parent has been there. You’re in a restaurant, out shopping or even chillin’ at home when your kid has a breakdown of sorts. They are uncontrollable. They won’t zip it up no matter what the heck you do or say. Just when you’re about to flip your lid, bust out the iPad. It’s like using duct tape to cover their mouths — but legal of course.

This week, Halfbrick Studios finally revealed the new mode behind the mystery banana: Arcade Mode. You get 60 seconds and there aren’t any lives so you won’t die. However, the bombs take away 10 points each, and they’ve thrown in a few magic bananas: slice one and you get a special effect for a limited time. One doubles your score, Freeze slows time down, and Frenzy throws a pile of fruit on the screen. If you’re lucky enough to chain a few together you can really rack up some high scores. Plus, you get bonuses for multiple combos, and at the end of the game you get a few more bonus points—for avoiding bombs, getting a lot of combos, or hitting all three types of bananas.

My children now have a new favorite game on the iPad. And they don’t mind the trailers that the folks at Half Brick have been producing for their Fruit Ninja game, either.

Like so many popular iPad games, this is another super-sized version of an iPhone game, with improved graphics and improved game play that comes thanks to the larger screen that developers have available to them. One nice addition to Fruit Ninja HD (thanks again to the screen size, but obviously not a requirement) is the addition of multiplayer mode. Two players can now play head-to-head in either Classic Attack and Zen Duel. This has been a bonus from this GeekDad’s perspective, as it saves the arguments over who gets to play with this new toy, only to be replaced by the occasional argument over who is cheating.

My real desire is to see this game branch out and use the Bluetooth functionality of iPad and iPhone as they have for Scrabble on the iPad. I can see multiplayer games of up to five players, where some players throw fruit from their iPhones onto the iPad screen and another player has to “ninja” it. The potential to really branch out with these new generation of touchscreen games is much greater than we are currently getting. I’m looking forward to seeing where developers can take it in coming months.